Homemade bread is a staple in Amish kitchens (there is one exception, but I'll write about that in a separate post sometime). Sourdough bread has become popular, along with wheat bread, oatmeal bread, and even salt-rising bread. But none of these breads can topple the popularity of just a plain white basic bread recipe. And that is what you see here in Lovina's kitchen recently. The top picture is of the bread preparing to rise, and the bottom is of the bread just after it has been removed from the oven. And below the photos, the recipe, so you can make it yourself:) You don't have to use lard in the recipe, but using it makes the most authentic re-creation for Amish authenticity. This bread tastes great with butter slathered on it, jam, and, wow, have I had many a great sandwich using this bread. Yum, yum, yum! Here is the recipe for this beautiful bread!
- 1 (¼ oz) package active dry yeast
- ½ cup plus 2 cups warm water or milk (i used water)
- 1 heaping tablespoon lard or shortening (i used shortening)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 7 to 8 cups all-purpose flour
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the ½ cup warm water. In a large mixing bowl, combine the lard, sugar, salt, and the remaining 2 cups of water. Into the mixing bowl, stir the yeast and enough of the flour to make a soft, elastic dough that doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. Cover the dough with pastic wrap and let rise till double (about 1¼ hours) in a warm, draft-free place, such as a table close to the stove or a sunny windowsill. Punch the dough down and divide it into 2 balls. Form 2 loaves with your hands. Put the loaves in greased pans. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise again until double (45 to 60 minutes). Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 45 mintues. The bread will sound hollow when it's done. After removing the bread from the oven, brush the top with butter or margarine. This will make for a softer crust.
Margie Conrad
Yummy!!!!!!
Terry
I love making bread. We live in an area that has a lot of Amish bulk stores. Would you happen to know the difference between the flours that they sell. I only use their Sunshine flour and Seal of Minnesota. I like the way my baked good come out using these, but they also have on called Occodent and a couple more that I didn't know. If you could answer it, that would be a great help.
Kevin
Terry, an equally good question..I'll report back on this one also!
Lisa Browne
I notice that some of the bread is in metal pans and some in glass. Kevin, could you please ask Lovina which she prefers, and if she makes any adjustments in time or temperature for the difference? Many of my recipes suggest adjustments. Thank you!
Kevin
Lisa, that is a really good question...I'll ask her and report back!
Darlene Kistler-Alvord
Looks like my Mom's kitchen used to look when we came home from school on bake day.
Shelda Wilhite
I love homemade bread but it never turns out like the pictures. I am still getting the hang of kneading. My Mom was the best bread maker I ever knew. (Honestly)
Christine
I think I can smell the bread from here.
Beka
Wow. Looks fantastic. I've learnt to do many loaves and rolls at one go too. It's so rewarding. Does Mrs. Eicher knead by hand or use a machine? Does she use a wood-firing oven to do European artisan bread, like Boules or does she do plain loaves for family consumption? My family has an addiction to white bread and love it when I make loaves like these, rather than whole wheat which is healthier. Does she get her family to eat whole wheat bread? Flavored breads, like raisin, herb, seeds etc. are they popular with the Amish?
Kevin
Beka, welcome. Lovina basically does plain white bread...she'll occasionally venture into sourdough or sweet breads like raisin and cinnamon. I think you'll find the "go to" bread for most Amish women is just your basic white bread, you don't see a lot of "7 grain breads", sunflower breads, herbs, etc...sweet breads are popular. Potato bread is also occasionally enjoyed!
Keneil
Is the lard melted before mixing with water?
Mary Lehan
When I used to make homemade bread, I found the crust was a mess to cut. Someone recommended taking a white dish towel, wetting it and wrapping it
around the bread after it was removed from the oven. Leave it rolled up for about 5+ minutes. Then unwrap and let cool completely. The crust was easier to cut and not as crunchy. My family liked it much better.
Also we did not butter the crust as it was removed from the oven. Hope this helps someone.
Debbie
Thanks for posting this recipe! I've been hesitant to try yeast bread, but I think I'll give this one a whirl!
I also have a question about metal vs. glass pans. The rule of thumb is that if one uses a glass pan, the oven temp is reduced by 25 degrees, which would mean the temp would only be 300 degrees. This seems kind of low... So here's the question another way: if one uses metal pans, is the temp 325 degrees, and if one uses glass pans, the temp is 300 degrees?
Many thanks - I really enjoy the column!
Laurie
I was thrilled to finally get an authentic Amish white bread recipe, all I need now is for you to post a recipe for Amish egg noodles!...PLEASE???????
Kevin
Laurie, I will do that soon, stay tuned!
Wendy
I've been using the basic bread recipe from the "Amish Cook's Baking Book" for a while now - if it's not this one, it's very similar. I'll admit to tweaking it a little, but what it's taught me is that good bread can be very simple! Yeast, flour (white or whole wheat or both), water (or whey or potato water), fat (I've used everything from butter to rendered chicken fat or bacon grease), salt, and maybe a little sweetener.
There's no going back to the tasteless, overpriced loaves in the grocery store for me! (Especially since I have a bread machine to do the "hard" bit.)
Ann
I made this bread (twice) and had fantastic results both times! I made one loaf at a time (halved the recipe), because, to be honest, I was a bit skeptical how it would come out without kneading. It came out beautifully!
I used a glass loaf pan, kept my oven at 325, and baked for 40 minutes. I used the wrap-in-a-towel trick Mary Lehan mentioned and the crust was perfect. Keneil asked if the lard/shortening needed to be melted - I didn't melt mine, but it did soften and break apart in the warm water and mixed into the dry ingredients just fine. Hope my notes about what I did when I made mine help...
Thanks, Kevin, for a great site!
Kevin
Thanks, Ann, so glad you met with success!